Page 53 - Australian Defence Magazine Nov 2020

NOVEMBER 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
C4I SUBMARINES 53
AUSTRALIA is partnered with the US Navy under two Armaments Co-operative Projects (ACP), which oversees the spiral capability update and upgrade of the core combat systems in both na- tions’ submarine forces, and for continuous de-
velopment of the primary offensive weapon, the Mk.48 Ad- vanced Capability (ADCAP) heavyweight torpedo. While the Mk.48 ADCAP weapon is a parallel spiral development program under the terms of its ACP, as the principal weap- on it is nevertheless inherently linked to the submarine combat system upgrades.
In addition to the aforementioned improvements undertak- en under the bilateral ACPs, Australia also has two important sovereign programs to update and upgrade the communica- tions and acoustic sensor systems of the Collins boats.
ARMAMENTS CO-OPERATION PROJECTS
Australia entered into the ACPs with the US in November 2004 to oversee development of a submarine combat con- trol system based on the US Navy’s AN/BYG-1, replacing the original Rockwell system integrated into the Collins submarines during their build process.
Now simply referred to as the Submarine Combat Con- trol System by Navy, the baseline for the spiral development path remains the AN/BYG-1(v)8 Tactical Command and Control System, which will continue to be the subject of regular updates and upgrades through to the eventual life
BELOW: Mid and full cycle dockings are logical opportunities for technology insertion for the Collins class.
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